Monday, November 13, 2017

Us Zen people do not care too much about Buddhist scriptures. We might be missing on some things. The Pali Canon has many gems...

As I was researching Mindfulness of Feelings, I discovered 2 weeks ago the Culavedalla Sutra and found it very interesting in 2 aspects :

In this sutra, the teachings are given by a Nun named Dhammadinna while the Buddha is sitting beside her listening. After the talk, the Buddha said that he could not have taught any better and praised her. This is a good reminder of the importance of the contributions of Nuns to the Dharma.

I finally found some clarification about the "neither pleasant nor non-pleasant" feeling, the one that leads to delusion if you let it take you away on arising. I had had quite some problems understanding what the damn thing could be. And there it was quite clearly :

"Pleasant feeling is pleasant in remaining, & painful in
changing, friend Visakha. Painful feeling is painful in remaining &
pleasant in changing. Neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling is pleasant
in occurring together with knowledge, and painful in occurring without
knowledge."

Beside that, this Culavedalla sutra is very insightful about the 5 aggregates and the Noble Eightfold path. You might enjoy it...

In 2014 I spent 2 hours at Mr Culbreth's residence with Soke Yamamoto to discuss Yoshukai Iai with him.

Soke
showed me some bunkai for several of the waza and we also discussed the
origin of Yoshukai Iai which he had not learned Iai from Dr Chitose but from 2
different masters from Kyushu.

Although
I am not exactly sure I fully understood Soke Yamamoto, I believe he had been training in Kumamoto in the 2 styles of Tenshin Ryu and Jigen Ryu, until one of the masters he was training with quit teaching.

In this Tenshin Ryu video, you can see where some of the Yoshukai Iai moves probably come from.

Although
Tenshin Ryu Nodachi is much longer than the regular Katana used in
Yoshukai iai, the waza at 1:40 is very close to the Yoshukai Waza #8,
and the next one at 2:00 is very similar to our #7.

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Stress, which can be caused by lack of sleep, causes inflammation. The stress level of insomniac people can be so high that constant inflammation occurs throughout their bodies. Such chronic condition can contribute
to illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, and other serious medical problems.

A recent study shows that inflammation levels can be reduced within
the body through both
cognitive behavioral therapy and Tai Chi practice.

The study was designed around 123 older insomniac adults. They were randomly assigned one of three
different types of treatment:

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia,

Tai chi movement meditation, or

A sleep training seminar.

The Study showed that :

Those who received cognitive behavioral therapy and practice Tai Chi experienced significant reduced levels of stress and inflammation and slept better. These benefits were maintained after 16 month.

Those participants unlucky enough to be assigned to sleep seminar
classes, there was no benefit in lowered inflammatory rates.

Researchers concluded that behavioral modifications that reduce
stress are the key to better physical health, once again illustrating the link between mind and body.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Humans are a highly adaptable specie with a great ability to learn and develop expertise. Still, body types generally condition our physical abilities.

Judokas know it is easier to throw someone taller than you and to sweep someone shorter. This is simply due to the relative position of their centers of gravity.

O Soto Gari

So during his first sparring matches a short guy will generally put emphasis on throws, and a tall one on sweeps. With years of diligent practice, abilities change, expertise comes and a tall fighter might develop a great way to throw an shorter opponent, or a shorter guy might become excellent at sweeping a giant.

However, at the beginning, in order to develop self confidence in students, a teacher should adapt his teachings according to their physical abilities and be able to teach both types of techniques, independently from his own preference and body type.

The same applies to spiritual practice. Dharma gates are boundless, we vowed to enter them. We should be able to teach a variety of practices. You may liken the Buddhist path to the ascension of a mountain. On your way to the top, several trail of various difficulty are available. Zen in essence is about getting off those trails to directly climb to the top. Not everyone can do this. Some people will fall off the rocks, some will get lost on their way.

Gravity is not just a theory...

I believe a practice leader should know how to teach different path to different disciples at different stages of progress. Before teaching them how to climb rocks, lets teach them how to walk the trail. The Buddha first talked about the 3 Noble Truths : Dukkha, Anicca, Anatta. Emptiness came much later... We should keep this in mind.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Tensho Dai, a tonfa kata, was created by Master Yuki Koda (1944- 1997) the late head of US Yoshukai Karate.Tonfa were originally handles used to turn the top stone of a traditional Okinawan rice grinder.

Okinawan Rice grinder with its Tonfa wooden handle

Here the kata is demonstrated by Shihan Mike Lilley at the World Yoshukai Karate & Kobudo organization summer camp in Eufaula, Alabama, USA on June 17, 2017.

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About Me

I was born and raised in France, have been living in the USA since 1992, after several years traveling around the world. I started practicing Martial Arts in 1969 I believe. After an interruptions during my college years, I came back seriously in 1986 when I was in Korea. Since then, I have not stopped.
Presently, I hold the ranks of 4th degree Black Belt in Yoshukai Karate, 2nd Degree in Nihon Ju Jitsu and 1st Degree in Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iai Jutsu. I have also been practicing and teaching Tai Chi and Kendo for several years, and trained in Soto Zen for 7 years. More could be said about myself, but this being mostly about Martial Arts and Zen, it would not add much to these subjects.